https://www.vermontpublic.org/local-news/2025-05-02/most-vermonts-public-trails-private-land-sustainable
Vermont Public | By Howard Weiss-Tisman, Published May 2, 2025 at 5:00 AM EDT On a recent chilly morning, Tim Calabrese was carrying a leaf blower across a wooded hillside, just south of downtown Ludlow.
He was following a line of pink flags that marked out a future mountain bike trail, across about 300 acres that are owned by the Fletcher Farm Foundation.
The economy in Ludlow is closely tied to outdoor recreation.
Okemo Mountain is the economic driver during the winter, and Calabrese says his group, Ludlow Area Sports Trails, or LAST, wants to make Ludlow a year-round destination for Vermonters, and visitors, who love the outdoors.
“It is a tourist destination. And for years people would just drive through with bikes on their racks and go to places like Killington, or further north,” said Calabrese, who was one of about a half-dozen volunteers who showed up to do the trail work. “So we’re trying to really put the word out there and build trails and bring people in.”
Outdoor recreation is big business in Vermont.
A recent federal report found that it brings in more than $2 billion a year, and it makes up almost 5% of Vermont’s economy, which is the second-highest percentage in the country.
